Creativity Gyms
If you’re someone who wants to get things done, you’re going to need ideas.
And let’s face it, sometimes ideas come easy. And sometimes they don’t.
Like puddles in the dessert that succumb to the beating sun, sometimes ideas dry up. And when you look at the weather forecast, there’s no rain in sight.
So, what do you do when your idea oasis dries up?
First off, let’s call out the fact that the siren song of wallow and worry is likely going to be strong.
And I’m going to ask you to resist it.
Research (and candidly my experience) has taught me that it’s far more helpful to remind yourself that creativity is a skill.
Like all skills, you can work on and improve your ability to generate creative ideas.
So instead of wallowing, take yourself to the creativity gym.
What’s in a creativity gym, you ask?
A creativity gym includes anything that will help you get unstuck and help you brainstorm new ideas.
For example, my creativity gym includes some questions and some exercises that I pick and choose from based on what I think I need.
And the best part about this is that you can and should personalize your “creativity gym.”
So, what tools do you already have in your creativity gym? What do you want to add? How might you use these tools to flex your creativity muscles?
To help get you going, here are some of the things in my creativity gym.
Questions I ask myself:
What tools have helped you get out of a creativity rut in the past?
How do you want to feel while you’re being creative?
What can you do to help yourself feel that way?
Exercises:
100 ideas
How it works: The task is simple. State a topic. Set a timer (I recommend no more than 30 minutes) and challenge yourself to come up with 100 ideas.
Why it works: 100 ideas in 30 minutes is ridiculous AND it will allow you to get out of your head and focus on brainstorming rather than judging and critiquing your ideas as they pop up.
The most dangerous writing app (free online tool)
How it works: Set the duration of your session. Hit the “Start Writing” button” and then type. Once you start typing you cannot stop for more than 5 seconds, or you lose everything you worked on.
Why it works: Certainly not for the faint of heart but it’s fun, produces urgency, and forces you to just keep writing. Also, from my experience, even if you end up losing what you wrote, you’ll remember the important parts, which means the activity has served its purpose. Also, you can choose to have the app give you a writing prompt, which can be helpful if you need a little nudge to get started.
Pick a genre
How it works: Genre forces us to get creative because it places constraints on us. For example, sometimes when I don’t know what kind of blog post to write, I pick a genre: book review, unpopular opinion, advice I wish someone had given me…
Why it works: By leveraging genres that are already established, you’re limiting options and restricting choices, which ironically can promote creativity. Also, some people find they’re better able to think outside the box when a box is forced upon them.
Set a timer
How it works: I’m a huge fan of the pomodoro method. You set a timer for 25 minutes and you must do one task for that amount of time. No picking up your phone, no browsing the internet. Do the task or sit in the discomfort of not doing it….but don’t do anything else. Then take a 5 minute break.
Why it works: In The Clockwork Muse, Eviatar Zerubavel tells us that if you wait for the muse to strike you before you sit down to create anything you might be waiting forever. Instead, he flips the adage and proposes that the muse comes when you spend time sitting and working on things. So set that timer and trust that the muse will come. And as for the 25 minutes, it’s a small amount of time, which makes it less intimidating than a large time block and it’s also long enough to do something with.
